Hockey lost me after the last lockout, when I watched salaries go astronomical and the game carved up to fit TV timing. This latest “labour action” disgusts me even more, and the CBC has posted a bang-on comment from a reader that explains why:
Here’s Sunday’s second comment from a CBCSports.ca user out of Quebec who goes by the handle VPNisFreedom:
“Both the players and owners have alienated the average fan for the last time. The problem is that we can relate neither to the billionaire nor the millionaire.
We the fans relate instead to our working class brethren – those who clean the arenas, scan the tickets, and sell you your beer and popcorn. We relate to the local bar owner who counts on NHL games to fill seats, and who counts on filled-seats to feed his family. We connect to the waitress whose Saturday-night tips help pay her tuition, and we understand the busker who play music outside the stadium to make some much-needed cash on the side.
Yet in all the talks, through all the discussion – I have not heard one word about those who will suffer the most: the working-class members whose jobs will be terminated or negatively affected if the NHL does not drop the puck this season.
There is one truism that the fans can take away from this ordeal: Neither the owners nor the players care about you. The owners don’t care b/c their prerogative is the ‘ceaseless accumulation of capital,’ so whatever makes that happen will happen, lockouts included and possibly even game-management to procure profitable outcomes.
The players don’t care b/c they are former working-class members who have struck it rich. They have moved up the class ladder – a difficult accomplishment – and many do not look back down. Egos become difficult to control with that much money. If players cared, they wouldn’t become SCABS and play in Europe, thereby taking a job away from someone who likely needs it more than them. If players cared, they would instead hit the picket lines, as this job action should be their main priority. If this labour dispute is so important, why do the players run away as soon as the situation becomes difficult?”
via NHL lockout 2nd take: Fan’s comment of the day | Hockey | CBC Sports.